Accentuating the caveat emptor perspective with critical commentary on financial disclosure. I adopt a skeptical persona and look for chinks in the teflon coating of financial disclosure. My job is to identify financial warts. Perhaps a Black Swan. Disclosure: I do not hold positions in stocks mentioned for three trading days before or after blog post.
Monday, September 25, 2006
HP's CEO Conflicted Statements.
Hewlett Packard's (HPQ) current CEO may be issuing conflicted statements according to www.law.com which carried an article from The Recorder. Mr. Hurd may have pointed the finger or the smoking gun at his own head when he announced last Friday that "Morgan Lewis reports to me, not to the HP board" Mr. Lewis was hired Sep 8 to conduct an independent investigation and represent HP in talks with federal and state prosecutors. Followers of the conflict have noted the evolution from a supposed board problem to governance issues affected by individual executive actions. As investors lose confidence in anyone senior at HP watch for M&A activity as a way to save an otherwise fine investment. Should disgraced executives and board members score on their stock options when the take ovecommenceses?